From the Bottle Collection

Without intent, I have collected well over 1,000 beer bottles since the early 70s. When something finally had to be done about the cheap paneling in this old modular, I had a choice. Tear down the walls while, oh, so carefully, replacing the often rotted 1X3s. Or: cover them with…

…The Bottle Collection.

Written by Ken Carman

The Professor asked me to “provide content,” due to the fact he flew into the middle of nowhere and his Hughes Net immediately died. So apologies for a lack of a picture on this post. I have both the “soft serve:” pre-growler Newman Brewing container and the later bottled version, which I’m pretty sure was towards the end and vended out to Matt Brewing. You know: “Saranac.” That’s a good thing: Fred has his brewers brew to recipe, unlike some schlocky brewers that brew for others.

No names mentioned.

We met Bill Newman in the early 80s in Albany at his industrial area, somewhat run down part of town brewery. Run down enough that we were nervous about parking our new Subaru there. I remember him telling me he really hadn’t been into beer… he just saw it as a trend. Surprising for the time: this didn’t translate into “bad,” like it usually does. I do remember an Amber which, for the time, was a nice, clean, ale with few hops at all… though a bit more hoppy than the few Ambers out there. For the time that was actually it was a tad aggressive. Similar to Abita Amber; only better.

Somewhere I have a picture of him stirring the grist at the brewery and I will try to remember to post it after I get home in a week. And I will have the Professor post a neat historical take on Bill and his brewery after this edition of “From the Bottle Collection.”Thanks to the Professor for the picture!